Parks and Recreation

The Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival is well remembered in Hartford for its 2013 edition, when headliner Dave Chappelle walked offstage mid-set.

Oddball 2015 showcases the current excitements in contemporary comedy. Aziz Ansari, the "Parks and Recreation" co-star who won Variety magazine's Power of Comedy Award last year, has just published a best-selling book titled "Modern Romance."

Amy Schumer, whose TV sketch show "Inside Amy Schumer" and hit movie "Trainwreck" have explored feminism, gender issues and modern dating rituals in hilarious new ways, couldn't be more of-the-moment. How top-tier is she? Last week, it was announced...

Related "Parks and Recreation" Articles

The Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival is well remembered in Hartford for its 2013 edition, when headliner Dave Chappelle walked offstage mid-set.
Oddball 2015 showcases the current excitements in contemporary comedy. Aziz Ansari, the "Parks and...

In talking to Luke Macfarlane, the TV, film and stage actor, about furniture making, which is just one of his passions, you also get a window into his art, and his life.
Listen to him talk about how he approaches woodworking — with knowledge and...

When Will McCormack was attending Trinity College in the mid-1990s as a performing arts minor, "I was in every play I could be in there."
A role model for the Plainfield, N.J., native was his older sister, Mary McCormack, a Trinity grad, who was by...

Nationally, the Oddball Festival lineup is pretty insane. About 25 comedians are on tour for the mega-amphitheater show, each lineup alternating between cities. This week, in Hartford, the lineup includes some of the most famous comedians working right...

NBC cut through the summer doldrums with the best week for a television network since the NBA Finals were seen on
ABC
two months ago.
NBC was led, as is typical during the summer months, by "America's Got Talent." The competition show was seen by...

FX is diversifying its offerings, picking up a drama about a cutting-edge tech company starring Nick Offerman, sinking resources into a limited series based in feudal Japan and returning for a fourth series of
"Fargo,"
this time with
Chris Rock
....

It is time to wish all those beautiful, rule-breaking moths out there a very happy Galentine's Day.
One of the most enduring legacies of "Parks and Recreation" began during the second season, when Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope showers her female friends...

Your enjoyment of "The Little Hours," opening Friday at the Music Box, will depend wholly on your response to a sex comedy that looks one way (14th century Italian folktale, affordably but attractively in period) and sounds another (21st century...

Aziz Ansari will host the Jan. 21 episode of "Saturday Night Live," NBC announced Tuesday. The creator and star of Netflix's "Master of None" will be joined by musical guest Big Sean. The episode will mark the "Saturday Night Live" debuts for both...

As a critic, I've spent years writing about the kind of world that pop culture tells us is possible, especially when it comes to visions of social change. On Wednesday, all of the stories that felt as if they were preparing for something new, all of the...

The writers for "Parks and Recreation" weren't Ray Kurzweil futurists whose jobs required them to make accurate predictions of the future. They didn't bring crystal balls to work or hire psychics to forecast the 2016 presidential election race.
It only...

NBC had good reason to go all in on "The Good Place."
The new comedy hails from "Parks and Recreation" co-creator Mike Schur, who has a long history at the network and a deal at studio division Universal Television. NBC gave it a straight-to-series...

Kristen Bell and Ted Danson have been cast in NBC's new comedy "Good Place" from "Parks and Recreation" showrunner Mike Schur. NBC announced the casting on Tuesday.
With his starring role on "Good Place," Danson would not return to "CSI: Cyber," in which...

The mustache is heading to Brooklyn.
Joliet native Nick Offerman will guest star on the Nov. 22 episode of the Fox comedy "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," a Fox representative confirmed.
Offerman, who played Ron Swanson on the NBC show "Parks and Recreation," will...

The romance is over for Amy Poehler and Nick Kroll.
The comedians have split after about two years of dating, according to multiple reports out Wednesday.
Reps for the "Parks and Recreation" star and "Kroll Show" actor did not immediately respond to The...

Perhaps taking a page out of "Avengers: Age of Ultron" mea culpa manual, Chris Pratt has issued a heartfelt "(pre)apology" for anything offensive he might say or mistakes he might make on his press tour for "Jurassic World."
Emphasis on might. And a...

Rachel Dratch, the comedienne best known for her seven-year stint on "Saturday Night Live," will host the 7th annual Shorty Awards, which will bestow laurels on the top social-media personalities and sites of the year.
This year's Shorty Awards will be...

Let us now praise "Parks and Recreation," which ends Tuesday night in an effervescence of heart and hope, proof positive that success and significance are not always measured in gold, statuary or otherwise.
The show that gave us Leslie Knope (Amy...

Comedian and writer Harris Wittels came up through small, alternative clubs in L.A. Though his humor was offbeat and sometimes raw, he didn't want to get stuck in those venues, at least not exclusively.
"No alternative comedian wants to remain...

Comedian and co-executive producer of NBC's "Parks and Recreation," Harris Wittels, was found dead Thursday at his Los Angeles home, authorities said. He was 30.
Wittels' body was discovered by his assistant at 12 p.m. in the 2200 block of North Hobart...